Nike Released This LeBron James Commercial As Soon As He Won That NBA Championship (Video)

Well, it’s a sad day for people who like making fun of LeBron James for his oblivious ego and inability to win the big game. Last night, after 9 long years, “King James” and his teammates on the Miami Heat finally won an NBA championship. That means, at least for a few days, we all have to cool it with the LeBron-hating and acknowledge, at the very least, that he’s an extremely gifted basketball player.

Of course, as we’ve come to expect, Nike was prepared for this eventuality. Right after the final buzzer went off in Miami last night, they released a commercial paying tribute to LeBron’s achievement, which shows how an old jeweler follows LeBron’s career on TV, from high school in Akron to the present day, all the while fashioning the championship ring that LeBron will wear one day.

Here, watch the thing for yourself:

You know what I find most interesting about this commercial? It’s cocky as hell.

Sure, it acknowledges the times LeBron has stumbled along the way, but it’s still basically saying that this championship was destiny. The ring maker knew he would win a championship, that it was only a matter of time. Moreover, the championship is celebrated as an individual achievement, not a team achievement—the ring features LeBron’s face, after all.

And of course, the whole commercial is an allegory for Nike’s relationship with LeBron. They also knew it was LeBron’s destiny to win a championship, so like the ring maker, they spent 10 years and millions of dollars promoting him, and had this commercial ready well in advance.

And this is the exact attitude that has turned James and the Miami Heat into the NBA’s biggest villains—“The Decision,” the huge pre-victory victory party they had in Miami to introduce the team’s new lineup in 2010, the bold predictions that they’d win multiple championships.

So it was a strange choice for Nike. The guy finally made good on all of his bold claims, and now they’re already back to being cocky again?